| Policy watch February 2008 |
- Central funding has improved rural conditions, states Ministry of Rural Development
- Centre for more credit to rural poor
- UP CM announces relief measures for Bundelkhand
- Guarseed, gum prices may rise as demand picks up
- UNDP selects districts for Public Private Community Partnership (PPCP) programme
- Biodiesel policy to be finalised before March
- Seven Rajasthan districts in UN’s development assistance list
- CAG report pinpoints irregularities in SFC, Jammu
Central funding has improved rural conditions, states Ministry of Rural Development
Greater flow of central plan funds into rural development programmes in India has resulted in a whopping 58 percent growth in rural employment, according to the Union Rural Development ministry’s monitoring report presented at the conference of project directors of District Rural Development Agencies (DRDA) in January 2008."The average employment generated per year during the first three years of 2001-04 was 709 million person days, which made a marked improvement to 1.12 billion person days during the next three years, that is 2004-06," according to the monitoring report. The number of beneficiaries of Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY), that is national rural self-employment scheme, increased by 48.53 percent in the same period.
Improved performance was also marked in other similar centrally sponsored programmes for rural sector like the Integrated Wasteland Development Programme (IWDP), the Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP) and the Desert Development Programme (DDP), in the same period on account of better central financial allocations.Areas treated under IWDP, DPAP and DDP increased in the same period by 63.29 percent and the habitation covered under safe drinking water supply went by 110.24 percent states the report. According to the report “Toilets in individual households went up by 205.16 percent; school toilets by 191.62 percent and Balwadi (crèche) toilets by 746.09 percent.” Similarly, houses constructed under Indira Awas Yojona during 2004-07 were 450,000, which marked an increase of 22 percent compared to 2001-04. It also states that larger share from central plan funds was allotted to rural development ministry during the current United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime. “Prior to the UPA government, the average per year share of the rural development ministry during the three years 2002-05 was 15.27 percent as against 18.37 percent during 2005-08.”
Centre for more credit to rural poor
Hinting at a substantial increase in the budgetary allocation for rural development programmes, the Centre plans to embark upon a micro finance scheme to reach the much-needed credit to the poor through the self-help groups announced Rural Development Minister, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. "The annual budgetary support is likely to go up to Rs 50,000 crore from Rs 41,000 crore at present," said. In order to boost credit availability to rural areas, a Micro-Finance Bill has been formulated and it is under active consideration. Singh announced efforts were underway to accommodate families living below the poverty line in the SHGs so that the rural poor could be given assistance for taking up economic activities.
UP CM announces relief measures for Bundelkhand
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has announced a number of measures for the uplift of the backward region of Bundelkhand. One of the most backward areas in the country it suffers from extreme levels of poverty and environmental degradation, and has been in the news for starvation deaths, acute drought, exploitation and land grabbing. Around 74.55% of its workforce is engaged in non-productive agriculture; 25.14% of its population is scheduled caste (SC), which is higher than the national and state average. Measures the chief minister announced for the uplift of Bundelkhand include: Rs 118 crore for agricultural development and a Rs 10 crore insurance scheme for farmers; Handpumps to be installed all over the region to address drought and one person from each below-the-poverty-line (BPL) family will receive professional training.
Guarseed, gum prices may rise as demand picks up
Futures prices of guarseed and guar gum are likely to rise by 10% in the next one month on increased demand and lesser supply, traders of the product have said. Traders and analysts see guarseed to touch Rs 2,000 per quintal while guar gum would surge to Rs 4,800 per quintal levels in the coming days. “Arrivals are coming down whereas the demand from firms like Hindustan Gum and Chemicals and Lucid Group is only increasing. Karvy Comtrade analyst Chowda Reddy also said the rising demand from guar gum mills would push prices up in the next three to four weeks. Currently, arrivals have stopped from Ajmer, Tekdi and Pachwadi regions and many traders are awaiting supplies from the Ganganagar and Bikaner belts of Rajasthan. There are adequate stocks in these regions, said Reddy. India accounts for 80% of the total guar produced in the world and 70% is cultivated in western Rajasthan. Apart from Rajasthan, it is grown in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
UNDP selects districts for Public Private Community Partnership (PPCP) programme
Orissa's Ganjam is among four districts in the country selected by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for implementation of public private community partnership (PPCP) from 2008. The PPCP as a concept encourages involving private parties and communities to derive maximum benefit for livelihood support. The other districts selected by UNDP in consultation with state governments for implementation of the PPCP are Dungarapur in Rajasthan, Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh and Mandala in Madhya Pradesh."We have selected several sectors including kewara processing, cashew processing, paddy procurement through self help groups and to make value addition from products, food processing and granite processing to develop through the PPCP model,"said Ganjam District Collector V K Pandian . The actions plans would be prepared with the support of several departments panchayat raj, industry and women and child development. While several private entrepreneurs, mostly from Uttar Pradesh, have set up the processing units to extract essence of kewara, a flower that grows widely in at least six blocks in the district, entrepreneurs from Andhra Pradsh and Rajasthan have taken lease of granite quarries.
Biodiesel policy to be finalised before March
The biodiesel policy, which proposes to make mandatory blending of 20 per cent ethanol with petroleum, will be finalized by March announced Maharashtra’s Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy Vilas Muttemwar. "The proposal is for 20 per cent blending initially, so that no changes are required to be made in auto engines”, said Muttemwar. The government has recently approved blending 10 per cent ethanol with petrol from October 2007.The policy has been awaiting clearance for over a year now. Funded by the Union Ministry of Rural Development the country would require a four-fold increase in energy supply during the next 25 years to maintain the 8-9 per cent growth rate, says Muttemwar.
Seven Rajasthan districts in UN’s development assistance list
Seven districts of Rajasthan have been taken into the ambit of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) programme for poverty alleviation, health care, education, women and child development and training .The UN has granted 10 million US dollars to the State for implementing the programme during 2008 upto 2012. The districts incorporated in the ambitious programme are Udaipur, Chittaurgarh, Banswara, Rajsamand, Dungarpur, Tonk and Jhalwar. Besides Rajasthan, the programme will also be implemented in Chattiosgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh in the next four years. The resources available at the district level would be utilised for implementing the programme with an emphasis on capacity building and disaster management.
CAG report pinpoints irregularities in SFC, Jammu
Lack of clear policy on the timber extraction management and transportation of stock with no steps being taken to improve the existing measurement system are some of the glaring discrepancies in the functioning of State Forest Corporation (SFC) , of Jammu and Kashmir pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in its audit report for ending March 31, 2007. The CAG report has gone to the extent of saying that the SFC has failed to live up to its objectives with lack of clear policy on extraction management. It adds that same has led to accumulation of inventory and rotting of stock worth crores of rupees. Despite enough markings available at the beginning of each year, the corporation had taken 230.50 lakh cft of fresh market trees from the forest department for exploitation, says the report. that. This has resulted in accumulation of inventory and creation of additional liability on account of royalty amounting to Rs. 75.45 crores.
The report states that out of 21.21 lakh cft of Deodar and Kail extracted by the corporation between 2001-02 and 2005-06, the total outturn aggregated 13.03 lakh cft against 13.61 lakh cft as per norms fixed by the corporation. It resulted in shortfall in outturn by 0.58 lakh cft with a consequential loss of Rs. 2.83 crores.
The report says that improper management at the extraction / handling sites has led to loss of seven lakh cft of timber valued at Rs. 23.33 crores. It added that due to the deterioration of stock, various species of timber measuring 12. 30 lakh cft were sold at reduced rates, resulting in loss of Rs. 17.61 crores to the corporation.
